PAIGE ROSE WITH THE FIRST GLIMMER of dawn and built a small fire before trotting down to the stream. She shucked off her tank top and shorts and dove into the stream in her panties and sport bra, figuring the underwear could use a good rinse as much as she could. With at least the top layer of jungle dirt washed off, she pulled on her clothes again and filled a collapsible plastic container with water. By the time she’d trudged back to camp, the others were up.
“What do we do about breakfast?” Aleisha asked.
“You got low blood sugar or something?” Ty asked with a snarl. Aleisha shrugged and moved away. Paige had never liked bullies and thought she might say something later to Aleisha about standing up to Ty.
“You got a problem, Ty?” Paige asked, pouring water into a collapsible pot, adding some purification tablets and moving it over the fire.
“Nothing you can fix,” he replied.
That worked for her since she had no desire to fix anything for him anyway. The water started to boil and Paige tossed in a handful of coffee grounds. She’d pack around a few pounds of coffee over a tent any day. She didn’t bother telling her teammates that it was partially decaffeinated. And tomorrow’s coffee would have even less caffeine. She’d brought enough coffee for probably a week. After a week of the decreasing amount of caffeine, her teammates wouldn’t go through the usual harsh withdrawals of stopping coffee altogether. But she wasn’t exactly doing it for their sakes. They’d perform better if they didn’t have to take several days to deal with the caffeine withdrawal.
As long as she was doing this she might as well play to win. A hundred thousand dollars would be a nice cushion in her bank account. Especially if the agency ran into a dry spell like it had at other times. The thought of three hundred thousand if her team won was enough to make her dizzy.
The coffee had brewed enough for the aroma to waft through the camp. Predictably, it had drawn the entire team to the campfire.
“Is that coffee I smell?” Ty asked, almost nicely.
“Yep. Want some?”
Ty’s eyes clouded with suspicion. Paige stifled a laugh. He was worried that she wouldn’t give him the coffee.
“You got a cup?” she asked.
Ty returned with a blue speckled, metal cup. She tipped the pot, pouring the brew into his cup, and Paige was surprised his hand wasn’t shaking. She had him pegged for a three double latte a day guy–probably with a shot of flavor. The lack of cream was sure to be a disappointment to him.
“No cream, huh?” he asked.
Was she good or what? Paige bit back a chuckle and shook her head. “Sorry. You could try some coconut milk in it.”
“Hey, that could work.”
Aleisha, Alex, Kevin and Nick wandered over, lured by the coffee aroma. Paige tipped the pot again and again, saving the last half-cup for herself. The rest of breakfast consisted of the berries Aleisha had found with chunks of coconut mixed in.
Wade showed up at eight sharp, dressed in khaki shorts and a tank top, a bright blue bandana tied around his neck. Thanks to the slight infusion of caffeine, the team members were all ready to go.
“Today we go into the second competition for Team Leader. This competition is a race. Follow me.” Wade waved at them and tromped off through the jungle. They obediently followed for about three hundred yards. Wade stopped and pointed to the north.
“At the top of that hill is a map pinned to a tree. The map shows the location of several items that will come in very handy for the rest of your time here.” He hiked up his cargo shorts and smiled. “You might say those items could be the difference between going to the finals or coming in dead last.”
Everyone nodded to indicate they were paying close attention to his words of wisdom.
“The competition is a race to retrieve the map. As you can see, the map is some distance away and there are several ways to approach it. To the northwest is a river, to the northeast is a cliff. North, you’ll encounter a lot of jungle to get through. It’s up to each person to decide on the best route to the map, depending on individual skills.” He paused and smiled. “Personally, I’d avoid the jungle if I were you. Too many variables. The river route is the shortest, so if you’re a good swimmer …” Wade shrugged. “The map will be sealed in a plastic bag. If you retrieve the map, do not look at it. Whoever becomes Team Leader will be the only one allowed to view the map and not until I say it’s okay. And, trust me, I’ll know if anyone else has looked at it.”
Wade’s delivery was smooth and stylish. He sounded as much like an actor as he looked. Nick kept the camera on him until he finished his directions, then turned it toward the team members.
“What about Barry?” Aleisha asked.
Wade paused for a moment. “Well, seems Barry has changed his mind. He showed up last night and said he wanted to quit.” Wade shrugged again. “Unfortunately, this means your team is a member short. Then again, better to find out now than later when he could bog you down.”
Paige watched Nick tape the team’s reaction to Wade’s announcement. Aleisha and Alex shared a look of concern. Predictably, Ty didn’t seem to care about Barry’s defection. Kevin just smiled like he was in on some joke. That smile was beginning to irritate Paige. Losing a teammate this early was a disappointment. But she agreed with Wade that it was better to find out now that Barry wasn’t up to the game.
“The competition begins now,” Wade announced. “Get whatever gear you deem necessary or useful and be on your way.”
Everyone hurried back to the camp and began digging through packs. Paige had already decided on the cliff. She had the equipment to rappel down the cliff, and it was one of her strengths. She strapped a rope bag around her waist and stuffed in a three-hundred foot length of rappelling cord and a folding grappling hook. She pulled on her climbing harness, and then a self-inflating life vest, and made sure her knife was secure at the small of her back. Going down the cliff would be easy, but she’d probably return by the river, and she had no idea how rough it might be. Wade hadn’t mentioned what they would be doing for dinner later, and Paige suspected they would be providing their own meal again, so she folded a couple of bags into the rope bag. Ty finished gathering his equipment and walked over to her.
“Not much of a swimmer, huh?” He poked at the self-inflating life vest, just missing a tender area of her chest. She resisted the urge to flatten him, but not by much. His attitude did not bode well for the coming weeks.
Kevin pulled a machete from his pack and walked into the jungle without a word to anyone. Ty trotted off with Aleisha right behind him. For a moment, Paige envied Aleisha’s close-cropped head. Hers was starting to itch from the sweat and dirt. She had a small container of bio-degradable shampoo that would give her about four shampoos. Two a week for the time they would be on the island. All Aleisha had to do was dunk her head in the river.
“So, you’re doing the cliff, too?” Alex asked in his lilting voice. He pulled a length of rappelling cord off his shoulder and shoved it into the rope bag around his waist. “Looks like Ty and Aleisha are taking the river.”
“Looks that way.” She zipped the rope bag closed and took off at a trot, leaving Alex to catch up. The trail was narrow and she ran ahead, listening to Alex’s huffing and puffing. Didn’t sound like he’d done much to get in shape for the show.
Paige kept the hill she was aiming for in sight every time she went through a clearing, which wasn’t nearly often enough. After a little more than half an hour of jogging, the ground started to climb, and she slowed her pace a bit, catching her breath. By noon, she’d made the top of the cliff. Paige thought Alex must be a good mile or so behind her. The hilltop she was headed toward was much closer. Once she reached the bottom of the cliff, she would only have a short climb up the hill.
The river that Ty and Aleisha had to cross was a glimmering ribbon from this distance. Paige still thought the cliff was a better deal. The river was closer to the hill but it looked pretty wide in places. There was plenty of jungle foliage along the banks so Ty and Aleisha would have no way of knowing if they were crossing at a narrow part of the river or not. At least from the cliff, Paige could scope out the narrow places where she’d most likely swim back.
She looked over the cliff and judged the drop to be about two hundred feet. Her cord would be plenty long enough. She secured the grappling hook on a rock and threaded the cord through the carabiners on her harness, pulling on the cord to test the security. She dropped the rope bag over the cliff, watching it land at the bottom.
“Hey, bet you thought you’d lost me back there.” Alex bounded up behind her.
He pulled his rope bag off his belt and threaded the line through the carabiners on his harness.
“Your rope looks a little used.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” Alex secured his grappling hook, grabbed his rope and jumped over the cliff edge. His rope ran over a rock and sawed back and forth as he lowered himself.
“Alex!” Paige called over the edge. “Your rope is rubbing over a rock. It’s starting to fray. Try to find a place to rest and give it some slack. I’ll move it for you.”
“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.” Alex waved and continued down the cliff. The rope was fraying rapidly. Paige cursed his stupid, reckless ignorance that would now cost her precious time. She quickly straightened her rope, made sure it wouldn’t snag or rub on anything, and lowered herself over the edge. A glance down at Alex showed him to be about fifty feet off the ground, so maybe he’d make it before his rope broke. Just then she heard a snap and jerked her head around. Alex’s rappelling cord flew by her, rippling in the air.